. >> reporter: as the blades of a combine slice though his corn crop, carl neubauer looks over fields he feared wouldn't produce anything this year. >> we estimate that we'll probably be between 80 and 100 bushels and we think our average will be in the 100 to 105 bushel per acre. >> reporter: in a normal year this central illinois farm produces twice that amount. but then again this hasn't been a normal year. when we visited neubauer's farm in june, the drought was just starting. his fertile soil was cracking from lack of rain and corn stalks were withering from the heat. neubaurer thinks technology saved him. >> i think we just found that our hybrids the new genetics that we're planting they were better able to withstand the stress better than we thought. >> reporter: while this isn't going to be the bountiful year u.s. farmers predicted last spring, it might not be a total bust. earlier this month the usda estimated farmers will harvest on average about 123 bushels of corn per acre this fall; that's a 13% decline from last year. >> the government bases those estimates on samples it